Pilot on previous Lion Air flight requested to return to airport day before deadly crash

Divers on Thursday recovered a flight data recorder from the crashed Lion Air jet on the Indonesian seafloor, a crucial development in the crash investigation. 189 people died when the 2-month-old plane plunged into the sea on Monday. (Nov. 1)
AP

This picture from Indonesia media agency "detikcom" shows officials displaying part of the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT 610's black box after it was recovered from the Java Sea on Thursday.(Photo: Pradita Utama/AFP/Getty Images)

The pilot on the Lion Air flight that crashed this week, killing all 189 people on board, had requested to return to an airport due to technical problems the day before the fatal flight. The report casts doubt on the Indonesian low-cost carrier's claim to have resolved the issues.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plunged into the Java Sea early Monday, minutes after taking off from the capital, Jakarta. One of the black boxes has been recovered, but is not fully intact. Lion Air said 65 body bags have been recovered and the process of identifying the dead is ongoing.

Hundreds of rescue workers continued to search for victims and the plane’s fuselage Friday. The plane engine turbine - one of the largest pieces of debris so far recovered - was lifted out of the sea Friday, CNN reported.

Divers retrieved one of the black boxes - the flight data recorder - on Thursday but the cockpit voice recorder has yet to be located. Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syauqi Syauqi, said it is thought to be 114 feet deep on the seabed and either obscured by debris or hidden by mud, according to CNN.

Herson, the head of Bali-Nusa Tenggara Airport Authority - who like many Indonesians goes by one name - said the pilot on the aircraft's previous flight on Sunday requested to return to the airport not long after takeoff, but then reported the problem was resolved.

“Shortly after requesting RTB (return to base), the pilot then contacted the control tower again to inform that the plane had run normally and would not return” to Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport, Herson told The Associated Press.

Passengers on the Sunday flight from Bali to Jakarta recounted problems that included a long delay before takeoff for an engine check and the plane dropping suddenly several times in the first minutes of its flight.

That flight landed in Jakarta at 10.55pm local time Sunday. The same plane took off hours later at 6.20 a.m. Monday before crashing.

The pilots of the fatal flight also made a “return to base” request - one step down from Mayday - minutes before the crash.

Data from flight-tracking websites show both flights had highly erratic speed and altitude after takeoff, though confirmation is required from data recorded by the flight recorders.

The fatal flight was bound for the city of Pangkal Pinang on Bangka – Indonesia's ninth-largest island – when it lost contact. The flight data recorder was recovered from a depth of 98 feet about 1,640 feet northwest from where it disappeared, authorities said.

Investigators displayed one of the jet’s two flight recorders at a news conference Thursday night and said they would immediately attempt to upload information and begin analysis.

The National Transport Safety Committee said progress was hampered by the black box not being fully intact and that special handling was needed to ensure its data survives.

It said the “crash-survivable memory unit” was opened and washed and some of its wiring will need to be replaced and that Lion Air will have to provide a new shell in order for data to be downloaded.

“In principle, all data we have obtained, including flight data and air navigation, and also from other sources – we find that there have indeed been problems” with the plane, said Haryo Satmiko, deputy chairman of the transport safety committee. “We will prove more technical problems with data recorded in the black box.”

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A wallet belonging to a victim of the Lion Air passenger jet that crashed is seen in the waters of Ujung Karawang, West Java, Indonesia, Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. A Lion Air flight crashed into the sea just minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital on Monday in a blow to the country's aviation safety record after the lifting of bans on its airlines by the European Union and U.S. Achmad Ibrahim, AP

Rescuers conduct search operation in the waters of Ujung Karawang, West Java, Indonesia after a Lion Air plane crashed into the sea Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. A Lion Air flight crashed into the sea just minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital on Monday in a blow to the country's aviation safety record after the lifting of bans on its airlines by the European Union and U.S. Achmad Ibrahim, AP

A member of Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency inspects debris believed to be from Lion Air passenger jet that crashed off Java Island at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. A Lion Air flight crashed into the sea just minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital on Monday in a blow to the country's aviation safety record after the lifting of bans on its airlines by the European Union and U.S. Tatan Syuflana, AP

This handout photo taken and released on Oct. 29, 2018 by Indonesia's National Search And Rescue Agency of Indonesia shows rescue personnel searching the waters for wreckage from Lion Air flight JT 610 which crashed into the sea off the northern coast of Indonesia's Java island. National Search And Rescue Agency of Indonesia via AFP/Getty Images

Putri, center, is consoled for the loss of her husband and child who were passengers on board Lion Air flight JT 610, in Pangkal Pinang airport in Bangka Belitung province on October 29, 2018. RONI BAYU, AFP/Getty Images

Members of a rescue team transfer body bags into a vehicle at the port in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, on Oct. 29, 2018, after being recovered from the sea where Lion Air flight JT 610 crashed off the north coast earlier in the day. RESMI MALAU, AFP/Getty Images

Sony Setiawan, center, speaks to journalists at Pangkal Pinang airport in Bangka Belitung province on Oct. 29, 2018, following his arrival on another airline after missing his pre-planned flight on Lion Air flight JT 610 which crashed off the coast north of Jakarta. Setiawan was due to board the flight, but was held up on his commute to Soekarno-Hatta airport by Jakarta's notorious traffic congestion. RONI BAYU, AFP/Getty Images

A member of Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency inspects debris recovered from where a Lion Air passenger jet is suspected to have crashed, at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. A Lion Air flight crashed into the sea just minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital on Monday in a blow to the country's aviation safety record after the lifting of bans on its airlines by the European Union and U.S. Tatan Syuflana, AP